The next hundred million provides a vivid snapshot of america in 2050 by focusing not on power brokers policy disputes or abstract trends but rather on the evolution of the more intimate units of american society families towns neighborhoods industries it is upon the success or failure of these communities kotkin argues that the american future rests. The next hundred million america in 2050 is a non fiction book by american economist and demographer joel kotkin the author outlines a world in which the growing us population reaches four hundred million by 2050 he argues that the us will become more diverse and more competitive and he predicts that the us will experience continual economic growth that advances the populations standard of living kotkin writes that the us should emerge by mid century as the most affluent culturally rich. A visionary social thinker reveals how the addition of one hundred million americans by midcentury will transform the way we live work and prosper in stark contrast to the rest of the worlds advanced nations the united states is growing at a record rate and according to census projections will be home to four hundred million americans by 2050. Joel kotkin believes none of it the american geographer a distinguished fellow at chapman university in califonia is markedly more optimistic about americas prospects in the next hundred